1. Technical Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to automatic pillow adjustment. In particular, these apparatuses and methods relate to automatically adjusting a pillow in accordance with a person's sleeping position and in accordance with the sleep surface on which the person is disposed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pillows and other head supports are important components of a sleep system that can significantly affect a person's quality of sleep. Among other things, pillows can facilitate proper postural alignment of the pillow user. If the vertebrae of a person's spine are in neutral alignment while sleeping, then this will increase the person's comfort during sleep, improve overall sleep quality, and will also help to reduce neck and back strain. On the other hand, if the vertebrae of a person's spine are out of alignment while sleeping, this may reduce the person's sleep quality, cause muscle soreness and pain, and could aggravate neck and/or back problems. Therefore, a pillow that facilitates proper spinal alignment can greatly enhance a person's overall sleep experience and promote better sleep quality.
The optimal levels of head and neck support that are necessary for a person's pillow to provide the person with proper spinal alignment vary considerably according to the person's physical attributes and even vary over the course of a given night according to the person's sleeping position. Considering that the average person changes their body position roughly 60 times per night during their sleep, there is a long-standing need for a pillow which automatically adjusts the support characteristics provided by the pillow in accordance with a person's sleeping position.
Adjustable pillows are conventionally available that allow a person to adjust the pillow's firmness level and height level in various ways to achieve their desired support levels. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,725 to Veilleux et al. (hereinafter the '725 patent) discloses an orthopedic pillow having an airtight chamber for providing adjustable support to a user's neck. As disclosed in the '725 patent, the level of neck support provided by the pillow disclosed therein can be adjusted manually using a hand-operated pump.
However, such conventional adjustable pillows like that disclosed in the '725 patent have a number of disadvantages. Among other disadvantages, although such conventional adjustable pillows can be adjusted, such adjustments rely on the user to determine the ideal support characteristics of the pillow. And, the manual adjustments that a user makes based on what “feels” most comfortable to the user may not necessarily provide optimal support for proper spinal alignment. Thus, there is a need for an objective method for determining the optimal support characteristics for a pillow in accordance with the person's physical attributes.
Additionally, even if, hypothetically, the user were to somehow manually adjust the pillow disclosed in the '725 patent so that it provides ideal support characteristics for the user while the user is positioned in their typical sleeping position (e.g., on the user's back), the support characteristics of the pillow disclosed in the '725 patent nevertheless remain fixed throughout the night. Thus, even if the adjustable pillow in the '725 patent, in such a hypothetical situation, were adjusted to provide ideal support for the user while the user is positioned on their back (i.e. the user's typical sleeping position), the adjustable pillow in the '725 patent would not provide ideal support for the user when they are sleeping on their side or, for that matter, any other position besides their back.
Accordingly, there is also a need for an adjustable pillow that automatically adjusts so as to continuously provide the ideal support characteristics to a person as the person's body position changes during the course of a night.
While some automatically adjustable pillow systems have been developed, none of the conventional pillow systems have adequately addressed the aforementioned needs, and other needs not specifically mentioned above. For instance, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0177449 to Wong et al. (hereinafter “the '449 publication”), provides an adjustable mattress and pillow system in which an electrically conductive sensing mat is positioned on a top face of a mattress. As disclosed in the '449 publication, the sensing mat is able to differentiate pressures or applied weight per unit area of a user's upper body in different poses.
However, the adjustable pillow system disclosed in the '449 publication has a number of shortcomings. Among other shortcomings, as disclosed in the '449 publication, a separate sensing mat 2 positioned on a top face 1A of the mattress is required in addition to the pillow 5 to detect pressures or applied weight per unit area of a user's upper body. Moreover, the pillow 5 disclosed in the '449 publication must be connected to a separate external apparatus, namely, the pillow 5 must be connected to the fluid reservoir 10 by conduits 7 and 9, through pumping/control unit 8, under control of control device 8A.
Thus, the adjustable pillow system disclosed in the '449 publication is inconvenient for a user in that it requires cumbersome connections to a large number of devices that are external to the pillow 5. Further, the adjustable pillow system disclosed in the '449 publication cannot easily be moved between mattresses since it must be connected to the sensing mat 2, which is disposed on a top face 1A of the mattress. The adjustable pillow system disclosed in the '449 publication also cannot be moved to different sleep surfaces such as a couch, a floor, an airplane seat, a car seat, etc., since the pillow 5 must maintain external connections to the sensing mat 2, the fluid reservoir 10, the pumping/control unit 8, and the control device 8A, in order to function properly.
Another conventional adjustable pillow disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0139549 (hereinafter “the '549 publication”) has similar disadvantages and others not discussed above. The adjustable pillow disclosed in the '549 publication uses an automatically adjustable chamber that changes the motion and height of the head support, either intermittently or continuously, throughout a person's sleep cycle so as to gently move the head of the user, which results in reduced neck pain or snoring, or both.
To achieve these features, the '549 publication discloses that one or more sensors 20 can be a pressure sensor, a vibration sensor and/or an acoustical sensor that can detect when a user is snoring and then activate the pump device 22 to begin the height adjustment of the head support 12. The '549 publication also discloses that the sensors 20 can sense when the user tosses and turns and institute a height adjustment until the user stops tossing and turning after a set period.
However, the system disclosed in the '549 publication merely oscillates the height of the head support portion 12 from a minimum height HMIN to a maximum height HMAX. The '549 system does not adjust the pillow to the optimal support characteristics of the specific user. Further, the system disclosed in the '549 publication does not adjust according to the body position of the user. Rather, the '549 system only detects the presence of snoring or the presence of tossing and turning (i.e. the '549 system only detects movement not body position).
Moreover, much like the system disclosed in the '449 publication, the adjustable pillow of the '549 publication requires cumbersome external connections to a control device 16 and a reserve bladder 19. As shown in FIG. 1, for example, the aforementioned control device 16 and reserve bladder 19 are disposed external to the head support portion 12.
Accordingly, there is a need for a pillow that provides optimal support characteristics for a person in accordance with the person's physical attributes. Further, there is a need for a simple and convenient adjustable pillow system that can automatically adjust the attributes of the pillow to provide optimal support characteristics to the person in accordance with the person's body position. There is also a need for an automatically adjustable pillow system that does not require a connection to a sensing mat disposed on a top surface of the mattress and, further, for such a system that comprises a head support member having no external physical connections. Finally, there is a need for an automatically adjustable pillow system that is not attached to a particular mattress, that can be easily moved between different mattresses and, more generally, can be employed on any sleep surface including, but not limited to, a couch, a floor, an airplane seat, a car seat, etc.